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  You’ll Need to Wait a Little Longer for the “Future of TV” Xbox 360 Dashboard Update

  The much-ballyhooed firmware upgrade that’s supposed to make Microsoft’s gaming console a hotspot for all sorts of TV content is facing unexpected delays, according to the company’s chief Xbox Live representative. The update was scheduled to start rolling out this morning but Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb indicated on Twitter that it may not be live…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 6, 2011
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  Survival Mode is Coming to the Portable Version of Minecraft

  The experience that many people were hoping would be on the portable versions of Mojang’s hit construction/adventure game should be finally coming to iOS and Android. The biggest complaint about Minecraft Pocket Edition has been that it only delivers the PC game’s Creation mode, the part of the game that lets players build outlandishly detailed…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 6, 2011
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  Pick up Android Minecraft Pocket Edition for a Dime

  Seriously, ten cents. Pick it up.

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  $5 Grand Theft Auto III Hits Android and iOS (Yes, iPhone 4 Too) Next Week

  Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition hits the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and a variety of Android devices next week for $4.99, Rockstar said today. Here’s a complete run down of the Android devices you will be able to play the game on: Android Phones: HTC Rezound, LG Optimus 2x,…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  Mind-Bending Flash Favorite Shift Gains a 3D Twist in Shifting World

  More than 16 million players have enjoyed Armor Games’ flash-based Shift series of puzzle platformers. Now Akysys Games seeks to capture some of that magic on Nintendo’s 3D handheld with Shifting World First off, if you haven’t played Armor Games’ Shift yet, go do that right now. I’ll wait. Shift is a simple platforming game…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 6, 2011
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  The Resurgence of My Nintendo 3DS, According to the Only Stats that Matter

  Nintendo would like you to think that the 3DS, once ballyhooed and then dismissed for a dud, is making a comeback. They’ll show you the numbers. Their numbers don’t matter. Mine do. And my 3DS numbers—the numbers that show how much time I used Nintendo’s newest handheld day-by-day, month-by-month, throughout 2011 since the system launched—tell…

  By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2011
• Esports

  Take That, MTV: More than 240,000 People Watched Pro Video Game Players Compete to Be the Best

  Some people like eSports. Others think the idea of broadcasting competitions of people going at it in Starcraft 2, Black Ops or Halo: Reach won’t ever get mainstream media attention. But it turns out that it may not be necessary, if the new numbers released by the Major League Gaming promotion are any indication. MLG…

  By Evan Narcisse Published December 6, 2011
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  You Should Definitely Buy Your Child a Nintendo DS3, the 3D Version of the DS

  Demonstrating that sometimes Speak Up on Kotaku only needs to be a single link with a little color commentary, colorful commenter Killer Toilet shares with us a little holiday gift buying tip courtesy of Fox News’ Kim Kommando Fox be trolling the 3DS. It’s apparently for children “too young for smartphones”. They call it a…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 6, 2011
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  The Xbox Kinect Can Teach You How to Kick a Mugger in the Groin

  Would you trust a video game to teach you how to get out of a choke hold and fend off a mugger? Self Defense Training Camp is a new Kinect controlled fitness game for the Xbox 360 that is designed to teach you to defend yourself. I was skeptical that it could work. The Kinect…

  By Chris Carolan Published December 6, 2011
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  Battlefield 3’s Back to Karkand Live Now, But Not Without Problems

  Battlefield 3’s Back to Karkand expansion pack is live in Europe and hits the rest of the world this afternoon, if you own the Playstation 3. PC and Xbox 360 owners will need to wait until Dec. 13. The worldwide roll-out, Electronic Arts warns, is experiencing some minor issues: “Please use the Quick Match filter…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  Talk Amongst Yourselves

  Has anybody heard about the rumors of an upcoming Rampage movie? I have always had a soft spot for terrible video game movies. Hell, I even enjoy the Super Mario Brothers movie. What are your favorite video game movies? And, if I can admit to loving the Mario movie, someone must love the Double Dragon…

  By Chris Carolan Published December 6, 2011
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  Vietnam Makes Its Call of Duty

  It was France’s “dirty war”, an unpopular struggle in Vietnam against the French authority governing the colonies of French Indochina. The eight-year First Indochina War ended in 1954 with the historic battle of Dien Bien Phu, a fight that some historians say marks one of the first times a colonial independence movement managed to grow…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  Inertia Catapults From Xbox Live Indie Darling to Android Excellence

  If you’re not moving forward you’re doing it wrong. That’s the philosophy that launched Inertia: Escape Velocity from its humble beginnings as an Xbox Indie student project to a full-featured mobile game for Android and iOS devices. It’s also the strategy you’ll need to employ to advance through the games 35 plus levels of off-the-wall…

  By Mike Fahey Published December 6, 2011
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  Square Enix Browser Game. Yay?

  Squared | TOKYO, JAPAN: Square Enix has a new browser game and roped in Japanese celebs to promote it. (Photo: 4Gamer) The Darkness II’s Multiplayer Is Co-op Only. Introduces Four New Characters The Darkness II doesn’t have traditional multiplayer. There are no multiples of Jackie Estacado using their powers over The Darkness to fight it…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 6, 2011
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  Final Fantasy XIV‘s Subscription Period Gets a Start Date, Cheaper Rates

  Beleaguered Final Fantasy XIV is being reborn as Final Fantasy XIV: Version 2.0. Part of that rebirth means that the PC game’s free-to-play period is coming to a close. The billing period commences next month. Staring Jan. 6, Final Fantasy XIV‘s subscription will begin. According to Square Enix, those who have not selected a subscription…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 6, 2011
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  The Powers, Weapons and Cursed Heroes of The Darkness II’s Vendettas

  The Darkness II’s four new characters, each cursed with Darkness-imbued weapons, were all created by renowned comic book writer Paul Jenkins. Jenkins had no direction, just to go and create four people cursed to carry weapons powered by the Darkness, I was told. Here’s what he came up with. Make sure to click on the…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  The Darkness II’s Multiplayer Is Co-op Only. Introduces Four New Characters

  The Darkness II doesn’t have traditional multiplayer. There are no multiples of Jackie Estacado using their powers over The Darkness to fight it out in endless battles. The core mythology of The Darkness prevents it. So when Digital Extremes decided to expand their game to allow more than one player, they needed to get creative…

  By Brian Crecente Published December 6, 2011
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  Prototype 2‘s Protagonist Started Life as a White Dude

  Sgt. James Heller from Prototype 2 is not a white guy. He’s a black guy. But he didn’t begin his life that way. “We started off with an amalgamation of Hugh Jackman and Clint Eastwood, and the resulting render looked remarkably similar to James Marsden—so we were like ‘Okay, scratch that one out,'” Ken Rosman,…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 6, 2011
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  Um, Link Doesn’t Just Absorb Those Fairies…

  So Link walks into a Fairy cave, stashes some in a bottle, then just kinda…absorbs another to refill his health. Wait, absorb? That’s a little vague. Wouldn’t he need to…yeah. It’s horrible. The next time you crack open a bottle and top yourself up in a Zelda game, just think about what you’re actually doing,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 6, 2011
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  An Accidental Gay Romance

  Some might call this a fluke, a twist of fate—a coincidence. Striker Andy Carroll makes his way down the pitch, tries to score a goal and ends up (accidentally?) scoring with Arsenal’s keeper. The keeper of kisses. Video games are short on men kisses. Some games, such as Bully from Rockstar, have valiantly added them.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 6, 2011